Dubuque-area leaders on Thursday expressed concern and disappointment in the wake of a state commission’s decision to license a new gaming facility in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission on Thursday voted, 4-1, to approve a gaming license for the Cedar Crossing Casino and Entertainment Center, a proposed $275 million casino and gaming center planned near downtown Cedar Rapids.
Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E) and Linn County Gaming Association last year applied for the license and stated they expected the facility to add $60 million in net gaming revenue to the state each year once it was operational.
The third time proved to be the charm, as the commission previously had rejected two proposals to bring a casino to Cedar Rapids — once in 2014 and again in 2017. In the wake of the approval, P2E officials told reporters they intend to break ground on the project as soon as today.
“It’ll probably take us 18 to 22 months to build the project … so we’re going to move very quickly,” P2E board member Jonathan Swain told the Iowa Capital Dispatch.
Cedar Crossing is expected to have 700 slot machines and 22 table games, as well as a restaurant, 1,500-seat entertainment space and youth-oriented science center. Project leaders previously estimated the facility would support 1,000 jobs during construction and 680 jobs once fully operational.
However, approval for the project came despite opposition from some legislators and local leaders from Dubuque and across the state who expressed concern that the addition of a new casino would come at the cost of existing Iowa gaming facilities.
While the casino is expected to bring net increases to the Iowa gaming market, two market studies ordered by the commission found that a proposed Cedar Rapids casino would largely rely on pulling patrons and revenue from other Iowa facilities.
“I think the state faces more risk than reward with this one,” said Dubuque Mayor Brad Cavanagh. “We’re already facing such stiff (gaming) competition from outside the state … that to force more competition right here in eastern Iowa, that doesn’t seem like a good call to me.”
One study estimated that the new casino would lead to a 26% revenue loss for Riverside Casino & Golf Resort in Riverside, Iowa, in fiscal year 2029, while Isle Casino & Hotel – Waterloo would see a decline of 9.6%.
The same report estimates Diamond Jo Casino and Q Casino + Resort in Dubuque would see revenue declines of 3.6% and 1.2% that fiscal year, respectively.
Representatives for Q Casino + Resort did not respond to requests for comment Thursday, and officials with Boyd Gaming, which owns Diamond Jo Casino in Dubuque, declined to comment.
However, representatives from both casinos had previously expressed public concerns about the potential revenue losses if the Cedar Rapids casino were approved. Those revenue losses also can affect the Dubuque community at large, as DRA, which is the license holder for Dubuque’s two casinos, distributes one-third of its funds to the city of Dubuque, one-third to local nonprofits and the final third to the development of Chaplain Schmitt Island.
Greater Dubuque Development Corp. President and CEO Rick Dickinson on Thursday expressed disappointment with the commission’s approval to expand what he considers to be an already “saturated” gaming market in Iowa.
Already, Iowa is home to 19 commercial casinos and four tribal casinos. Only two are nonprofit casinos, he noted, including Dubuque’s Q Casino + Resort and Prairie Meadows Casino, Racetrack & Hotel in Altoona, Iowa.
“There is total saturation in Iowa in gaming, so whatever expansion takes place at a new casino will only subtract from the success of its neighbors,” Dickinson said. “That’s the expense of (this approval).”
Dickinson further lamented the inaction of elected officials who could have prevented the vote altogether. A bill that would have effectively blocked the new casino passed through the Iowa House of Representatives last week before stalling in the Senate. Reps. Lindsay James, D-Dubuque, and Shannon Lundgren, R-Peosta, voted in favor of that bill.
If passed, the bill would have set a five-year moratorium on all new casinos in addition to barring the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission from issuing licenses for new casinos projected to impact the adjusted gross receipts of an existing Iowa casino by more than 10%.
“Any legislator who opposed (the bill) is going to be accountable for the loss of business we see here (and elsewhere),” Dickinson said. “It’s disappointing.”